The Glass House: A Novel

Antonia McCulloch hasn’t built a life that offers many surprises. But her entire world is upended when her sister-in-law, Cicely Pick, and young niece, Kitty, arrive for a stay of undetermined length. Antonia tries to be hospitable, though she barely knows Cicely and doesn’t fully understand the state of her relationship with Antonia’s brother, George. Antonia’s husband, Malcolm, doesn’t bother with niceties: he’s convinced Cicely has ulterior motives that involve the inheritance of the Pick estate, Balmarra, which Antonia and Malcolm consider their home. There are secrets connected to this estate that Antonia has never bothered to pursue too deeply, but now she must endeavor to find the truth about Balmarra and its rightful owner. Along the way, she’ll find her marriage in crisis and her own future in jeopardy. Even the plants that fill Balmarra’s beautiful glasshouse have secrets to tell.

Told in alternating points of view, The Glass House dives deep into the lives of two very different women who are thrown together in hardship neither of them could have imagined–and much more than ownership of the estate is at stake. Questions of family loyalty, legacy, self-identity, and domestic obligation are explored with deft turns of the plot, and though Antonia’s actions will likely frustrate, this atmospheric novel casts a spell.